• Source:JND
HighLights
  1. PM Modi, Xi Jinping held crucial bilateral meeting.
  2. Discussions focused on trade deficit and border issues.
  3. Modi thanked China for BRICS chairmanship support.

PM Modi-Xi Meeting: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday held a very crucial bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit 2026, focusing on strengthening ties, the trade deficit, and border issues. PM Modi welcomed Xi and his delegation at the meeting.

"I express my gratitude for the support and cooperation received from China during India's BRICS chairmanship. We now have the opportunity to discuss bilateral cooperation. Once again, a warm welcome to India," PM Modi told Xi at the meeting.

It is a great pleasure to hear your positive remarks at the BRICS Summit, PM Modi said, asserting that both nations now have an opportunity to discuss our bilateral cooperation. "Once again, I warmly welcome you to India," he added.

We Can Learn From Each Other: Xi

During the meeting, the Chinese President, while emphasising the need to advance bilateral relations from a strategic perspective, said that India and China can progress towards shared development by learning from each other’s strengths.

"In the face of a complex international landscape marked by intertwined changes and challenges, China and India, as the world's two most populous countries and important members of the Global South, shoulder significant responsibilities. Both sides should keep the future of humanity in mind and the well-being of their peoples at heart, and work together to advance high-quality cooperation within the greater BRICS framework. We should advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive, mutually beneficial form of economic globalisation, injecting more positive energy into the promotion of world peace, stability, development and prosperity," Xi said.

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The MEA issued a statement after the meeting between the two leaders. 

"The two leaders welcomed the steady progress in India-China bilateral relations since their last meeting in Tianjin in August 2025. They reaffirmed that both countries should take a strategic and long term perspective of their ties. Differences should not become disputes. Prime Minister highlighted that both sides must be guided by three mutuals- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest," the statement read.

PM Modi Emphasises That Peace And Tranquillity In The Border Areas

Prime Minister emphasised that peace and tranquillity in the border areas remains an essential basis for the continued development of bilateral relations.

He underlined the need for both sides to observe existing agreements and understandings on border-related issues. The two leaders expressed commitment to a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable resolution of the boundary question proceeding from the political perspective of their overall bilateral relations and the long-term interests of the two peoples.

The two leaders took note of the progress in people-to-people ties and underscored the need to further promote cultural exchanges, business linkages and greater mobility between the two countries. On economic and trade relations, they underlined the need to address each other’s concerns, including structural trade imbalance and supply chain issues, and facilitation of meaningful and predictable market access.

PM Modi and President Xi agreed that both sides must continue to expand common ground on regional and global issues, and in addressing challenges. 

Earlier in the day, the Chinese President arrived in the national capital for a two-day visit to attend the BRICS Summit, marking his first trip to India in seven years -- a step that is expected to boost the overall trajectory of bilateral relations.

The Chinese leader was received at the Delhi airport by Union Minister Jitin Prasada, as cultural artistes performed traditional dances to welcome Xi.

Why Is Xi's Visit To India Crucial?

People familiar with the matter said the visit presents a key opportunity to further normalise relations that came under severe strain following the eastern Ladakh military standoff. Xi's visit to India comes on the heels of several high-level exchanges, including the Special Representative dialogue in Beijing between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, even as concerns linger over aggressive Chinese military posturing along the Arunachal Pradesh sector.

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The Chinese leader is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising government officials and top business leaders. Both sides have rolled out a series of confidence-building measures over the past year to repair ties frayed by the more than four-and-a-half-year military standoff in eastern Ladakh.

In the last few months, the two sides have taken a series of measures to rebuild their relationship after it came under severe strain following the deadly Galwan Valley clashes in 2020. NSA Doval held Special Representative (SR) talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang late last month that focused on delimitation of the frontier and sustaining work on trans-boundary cooperation as well as maintaining peace along the LAC. Both Doval and Wang are the designated SRs for the boundary talks mechanism, which was established in 2003 to comprehensively address the dispute over the India-China border spanning 3,488 km.

(With PTI inputs)


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